I had an unusually vivid dream last night I call “The Curse of the Anunnaki.”

Speeding through the inkiness of outer-space; in a spherical craft with large oval windows, surrounded by fellow crew persons, I am struck with a sudden sense of dread. Outside stuck to the glass and leering with soulful, black eyes — two ghostly “Anunnaki,” are attempting telepathic communications.

“That ain’t good,” I say to myself. What do they want with us; these harbingers of doom?

The picture becomes blurry and dims out — I awake disoriented.

The Anunnaki have transported me through time and space to a very different world than I am accustom to. For a purpose — their own evil purposes — I know not what. It is a world where imperial Rome never fell into the dark ages, but soldiered on into a 20th century not unlike Earth’s 1960’s.

The sword, slavery, games-to-the-death, debauchery, bread and circuses, are as natural to these Romans as to their progenitors — with all the modern conveniences technology has to offer.

Swordplay, begins in earnest as I fight for my life. I am an expert swordsman, but my opponent, is also adept with a blade. I fatally wound him and am rewarded with my freedom.

Now, a “freeman,” I cavort and celebrate with the other survivors. Slaves are brought in for our pleasure. I am particularly enamored of a young male slave but alas, my flirtations are rebuffed. I am alive but unsatisfied.

The picture becomes blurry and dims out — I awake disoriented.

Our mission, nearing completion, I am once again on board my craft. spacepersons, yawn and rub their eyes in an attempt to gain focus.

The captain, calls out “Set course for Daosiubaiu-Hygids-XIII …warp speed.

A combination of engineering obstacles and a trillion dollar budget short-fall, conspired to doom NASA’s Constellation program, including the Ares V, all effectively canceled, in October 2010, by the passage of the 2010 NASA authorization bill.

“It’s a very dynamic time, and a lot of folks aren’t real comfortable with all the uncertainties… None of us are.” –Peggy Whitson, Chief Astronaut, Johnson Space Center

Obama’s 2011 budget request eliminated the Constellation’s rocket, crew capsule, and the Ares I man-rated and Ares V heavy-lift vehicles. In their place it; funnels billions of dollars to ‘new spaceflight technologies‘, and outsources to commercial firms, the task of ferrying astronauts to low-Earth orbit.

The Lab, wonders about what NASA has already spent developing these new systems.

$9 billion into the development of a new rocket, Ares I, and a new spacecraft, the Orion.

Terminating the program and closing out contracts will cost $2.5 billion more.

Will the R&D transfer to private sector contractors or be shelved?

Elon Musk, an American engineer, and entrepreneur, is best known for co-founding PayPal, and SpaceX, and is the original investor in Tesla Motors.

“The problem with Constellation was that success was not one of the possible outcomes…”

Of course, he would say that. Musk, who funded the first viable production electric car–the Tesla Roadster–is designing a private successor to the Space Shuttle, designated the F9/Dragon.

Absent the shuttle, and budgetary realities aside, what if anything, has really changed? NASA will still oversee the astronaut corps, all-be-it with significantly reduced numbers of active duty astronauts. The space agency will still be in charge of outsourcing; something they’re all ready quite familiar with. True, the names of the spacecraft have certainly changed, but except for a slip in the time-line, the mission goals remain the same, i.e., regular trips to LEO, the ISS, developing new craft and technology, a manned mission to an asteroid, and then–on to Mars.

What have we learned?

Anxious astronauts and Washington politicos not withstanding; The Lab concludes; the US will remain a space-faring nation, but not before some much needed house keeping, and prioritizing.

The ‘Lab’ was somewhat disappointed by early NASA’s Dawn spacecraft remote viewing image of protoplanet Vesta; viewed from a distance of 26,000 miles (41,000 kilometers); away from the 530 kilometers (330 mi) wide asteroid.

A large file was discovered on the Wikipedia entry for Vesta, but it lacked that snappiness. Into Photoshop it went and out came this ‘enhanced image. ‘

For your comparison: the original, not enhanced image.

Image of Vesta taken by the Dawn spacecraft from orbit on July 17, 2011.

The space shuttle prototype Enterprise glides toward a landing on the bed of Rogers Dry Lake after being released from NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft during the third free flight in the Approach and Landing Tests in September 1977. (NASA photo)

A new viral video making the rounds on the Internet purports to show what’s been dubbed a “mothership” and at least three separate smaller alien spacecraft filmed in the skies over London.

The most famous video (which was taken anonymously and is one of two or three versions in circulation) shows a large glowing white oval moving in and out from behind clouds over the course of about 20 seconds, and then zooming off, with three white dots also making an appearance. — Space.com

When you hear a thunderous roar coming from directly overhead it’s only natural to look up, isn’t it? Well, anyway, that’s what I did. At first all you could see was a gray-colored cloud all boiling like–churning in the sky. Thunder? The roaring just got louder and louder. An approaching Summer storm, perhaps? No, wait! What the…what is that? Something was beginning to emerge from within the cloud. Out loud I said, looks like an aircraft carrier, but [it] was inverted, and massive. I think I held my hands over my ears, or maybe just raised them over my head in astonishment–unbelievable–my eyes must be deceiving me. How does something that big just hang there? I’d seen big planes before–the Space Shuttle on it’s 747 transport–even seen the Antonov 225–it’s a big-bad-boy, but this–this was 10 times that size. They’re here! The hair on my arms was standing straight up, and my ears popped. That’s no typical airplane–it’s–must be a-l-i-e-n, Alien, I reasoned! Ya don’t see that every day.*

The aliens had gone public (we would later learn just how long they’d secretly been here), and in the days following the first landings, the World had gone ‘ape-shit’ with fear over the uncertainty of what might be coming next. The doomsday cultists ranted and raved; churches filled to overflowing, the militaries of the World were mobilized–poised ready to defend the Earth, but the bombs never fell, nor did death-rays burn the flesh from the bones of Mankind; instead, the lights stayed on, there was plenty of food and gas; they had, after all, come in peace, and with one simple message to the people of Earth. The Universe, the aliens would tell us; was teaming with life of all kinds; sentient, living breathing biological life; impossibilities of unimaginable strangeness, some nothing more than what you would call smoke, some large as planets, some were what you might call robots–yet alive just the same.

As the weeks following the alien revelation of their presence ticked by; the ant pile of frantic people quickly calmed down, and a media feeding frenzy of sorts settled in on the Aliens. At first, they were referred to as Invaders–later–Space Brothers by the press–and their amazing technology. WOW! Did they have tech; like we never dreamed of. It was along about that time that they became known as “Them.” Not that They were gonna share everything they knew with us–we still had some growing up ta do–given our penchant for wars and callus disregard for the Earth and all–oh, no! All, in due time.

Special representatives of the Human Race where invited to function as liaisons between Them and us. Selected by lottery, 144,000 women and men, representing all nations and races, joined the Alien Introduction Liaison And Education Program. I agreed to interact with (even travel to their planets (they had more than one)) with Them. Yeah, I saw that episode of the Twilight Zone, “To Serve Mankind” where the foolish trusting humans fall for the alien propaganda, only ta be duped into traveling back to their planet to be eaten. I know, I know–all my friends said don’t do it–it’s a trick. Never in my life had I ever won anything–all those Lotto tickets–and not a cent ta show for it. I figured–sometimes you just gotta say “what the heck.” The next thing I knew, I was in training to go…when we lifted off…the last time I’ll ever see my home star…time travel or was it inter-dimensional? Maybe both. I don’t know. Shit I’m just guy from…what do I know…mind-blowing…Feynman was right, all along…and the answer was: 4.2…All that Summer, the fires in the Gulf, burned…sort of like the holodeck on…Looking down I started to laugh ’cause I had realized this was the first time I had taken a leak on another planet…wait till they get a-lotta this…on the return journey…it’s true, they did wear a lot of black… You don’t say! …Who knew? …Something wonderful!

I had just had an all-expense-paid vacation to the most beautiful planetary system anyone could ever imagine; even learned ta speak Their language. Saw wondrous thing I’d never dreamt of, all that, and lived ta tell about it. Not bad I thought, for a guy with just a high school education. I felt mighty proud talking into one of those gizmos they gave me to record my reflections on Them. Heck, maybe I could even write a book some day–be on that radio show. With that guy–what’s his name? George Bell?

Mankind had grown up, maybe even been saved from self-destruction, by the knowledge that other creatures had survived their own technological developments; over came their urge towards violent behavior, and then come here; with love and peace in their hearts (actually, They have two of ’em–hearts, that is), to the little ol’ Earth; to tell us that if They could do it, so could we. I considered it a great privilege and honor to have been lucky enough to participate in the Evolution of Humanity. We had become, Us.

Travis isn’t paranoid are they–but the director of their video “Side” obviously is? In the video, which is reminiscent of The X-Files, ends with the band abducted by aliens out in the desert. The lyrics written by Fran Healy, to the Travis song Side in part go:

Well I believe there’s someone watching over you. They’re watching every single thing you say–they’ll set you down and take you through. You’ll realize one day that the grass is always greener on the other side. We all live under the same sky… There is no wrong, there is no right. The circle only has one side…